Cold Reality
by Seyi
Summary: Chronicles the evolution of Neo amd Trinity's relationship, as they go to Zion, deal with past and present hurts and sectets, and reassemble a crew. New characters- romance here and there for you shippers. Please, R&R. Constructive crit is welcome; flames
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: The Matrix and its characters do not belong to me, although I wish to God that Keanu and Lawrence were mine.  
  
Rating: PG-13. May change in later chapters.  
  
Neo opened his eyes, squinting into the harsh light assaulting his retinas. Struggling to right himself with stiff limbs that allowed barely any movement, he forced himself into a sitting position, wincing as he did so. Swinging his legs over the side of his metal bed frame, he tried his feet gingerly on the floor, and after finding them supporting him-barely- he shuffled to the doorway, grabbing on to the cold steel as a sudden fit of weakness hit his body. He struggled to stand.  
  
"Neo."  
  
He heard the voice, even as a strong arm grasped him about the waist, leading him back to his bed. He looked up, faintly recognizing his leader, Morpheus. Morpheus. Neo's face melted into a rare smile. Morpheus was safe. He was safe. There was no Matrix around him- he was back in his room in the Neb. He tried to speak. "Mmm....Morph...."  
  
"Don't try to talk, Neo." Morpheus' voice was unusually gentle, and as low as usual. Vaguely Neo felt a large, warm hand resting on his forehead. "We're safe now- on our way to Zion for repairs, actually. You've suffered severe mental shock, although you're physically fine. It'll probably take a few days for you to recover..."  
  
Neo was trying to focus on what his leader was saying, but he was so tired...so tired. And his mind was drifting. He used the last of his strength to focus on Morpheus' face, every syllable conveying his anxiety. Licking his cracked lips, he attempted to speak. "Trin....ity...Trin...."  
  
"Trinity is fine," a slight, unbidden smile crept along Morpheus' lips, as he wet Neo's mouth with a sip of cold water. "She's been with you all this time, but I just sent her to eat something, and..."  
  
Morpheus' voice faded into nothingness as Neo's eyes, as if being lowered of their own accord drooped and closed. He was fast asleep, thinly breathing. Morpheus pulled his blanket over Neo's torso, the worry lines in his forehead smoothing themselves out slightly. Neo was going to be okay.  
  
After seventy-two hours of alternating between sleeping, dreaming, and waking, Neo finally became fully conscious. He rose to his feet, and unsteadily walked out of his room, into the main chambers of the Neb.  
  
The desolate scene nearly took his breath away.  
  
The ship was virtually unmanned- he could see no one, except Tank, who sat alone at the computer terminal, his back to Neo. The terminal was virtually the only place in the Neb that hadn't been damaged by what Neo had mentally christened the "spiders."  
  
Otherwise, the room was a disaster. All the intricately arranged wires and pipes were a thing of the past. Snapped cords and wires lay everywhere; broken glass, bits of steel, and nails, nuts, and bolts littered the floor. Looking up, Neo could see a huge gash easily as long as his body- and three times as wide- torn into the ceiling. Carefully avoiding the debris on the floor, he walked over to Tank, who was staring morosely at the falling code, doodling something on a piece of rag. Neo paused, uncertain of what to say, and then finally cleared his throat.  
  
Tank whirled around. "Good! You're up." He attempted a smile, but Neo was shocked at his appearance. Tank's normally tan skin had taken on a chalky pallor, and his eyes were rimmed with red, his usually enthusiastic, quick movements lethargic. The spark that had characterized Tank was gone, now replaced with a dull, lifeless look in his dark eyes.  
  
"My God. Are you okay?"  
  
Tank looked at him disbelievingly, then with dawning understanding. "You don't remember?" He then answered his own question. "But how could you, you were out cold almost immediately after we brought you back. You...do remember that Switch, Apoc and Mouse were...lost?"  
  
Neo nodded. "Yeah," he dropped his eyes, suddenly saddened. They hadn't known him well and he hadn't really known them either- but it hurt, nevertheless.... they'd all been fighting for the same cause, after all.  
  
"Dozer was, too." Tank's simple statement obviously cost him a lot; he swallowed hard before continuing. "Cypher terminated him. I got away with this;" and he lifted his shirt to show off a minimally bandaged burn, blackened and curling at the edges. "Don't you remember?"  
  
"I think so...." Neo sank into the adjoining seat- Dozer's seat. "I'm... sorry," he said haltingly. He didn't know WHY he was sorry, save for the fact that Dozer had died, and somehow he, the One, couldn't save the kindly operator. He laid a hand on Tank's shoulder; the guy was obviously struggling not to cry. "Go ahead, man, let it all out."  
  
Tank shook the moisture from his eyes in one swift motion. "Naw, I'm all cried out, I think. Got to get back to work." With that, he turned back to his computer and the codes.  
  
"Where are...I mean, how would we....." he paused delicately.  
  
Tank rubbed his eyes. "The bodies are lying in state over there," he indicated a room with one gloved hand. "They'll be buried when we reach Zion. You can go and see them if you want."  
  
Neo shook his head. He didn't know if he could take it. Rising to his feet, he touched Tank lightly on the back. "You'll be okay."  
  
"Oh, I know I will." Tank looked up at him, and a bit of light entered his eyes, even as a slight smile formed. "We've found the One. Dozer...would have been so happy. He's been at this even longer than me." Shrugging his shoulders slightly, he turned around once more.  
  
Neo felt a slight chill come over his body. The One. He, Thomas Anderson/Neo, formerly of the Matrix, was the One, the savior of the REAL world. At that moment, he was filled with a quiet assurance that took him by surprise- he had never been more sure of that in his life. The One. Neo hoped that was a title he'd live up to.  
  
The silence of the ship's helm was broken abruptly when Morpheus appeared seemingly out of nowhere, dropping heavily on his feet. Neo looked up to the ceiling just in time to see Trinity drop down as well, stirring up a small cloud of dust. Both disentangled themselves from the light harnesses they'd been suspended in, a smile on Morpheus' face "You're up," he said. "We've been making repairs on the ship."  
  
"Yes," Neo replied. But his eyes were fixed on Trinity. Dressed in an enormous broadcloth shift that covered her entire body from her neck to her knees, she seemed to be looking anywhere but at his face. "It's good to see you up, Neo," she said to the top of his head.  
  
He smiled and moved towards her, but she backed away, flushing slightly. Morpheus looked at the two of them, a small, pleased smile on his face. "Trinity, please see that Neo eats something. I must discuss some repair specifics with Tank." He walked over to where the younger man was sitting, and watched as the two walked into the small room used for dining purposes.  
  
"You must eat, Neo. I know the food is less than...gourmet, but......regain your strength. This food contains many vitamins and various other things that you will need, as both your mind and your body have been through so much recently..." Trinity's hands moved nervously as she prepared a bowl for Neo, babbling nearly incoherently, as he watched her in shock. Trinity never babbled. She was acting so out of character, it was scary.  
  
"Trin," he said, barely noticing that he'd used the abbreviation of her name usually used only by Dozer, Tank, or even Cypher. "Stop."  
  
She did so.  
  
Moving closer to her, he carefully pushed a lock of thick, dark hair off of her cheek, so he could look her straight in the eye.  
  
She didn't move.  
  
Slowly, carefully, he touched her lips with shaky fingers, outlining their shape, their feel. Neo truly didn't know what was coming over him. In the Matrix his girlfriends had been few and far between, often "normal" girls turned off by his obsession with the cyberworld. Around them he was often at best, sullen, or at worst, an awkward conversationalist with a tendency to space out on his date. Now, despite his nervousness, he felt more comfortable than he'd ever felt in his life.  
  
Removing his fingers, he cautiously lowered his mouth to hers, taking in her huge, upturned eyes in a pale face, her icy fingers which now were moving on his jaw, warming at the contact.  
  
When he pulled away, she lowered her eyes to the floor, placed his bowl off food in front of him, and made for the door with undignified haste. Leaping up from his chair as quickly as his weakened state allowed, he went after her but arrived at the doorway only in time to see her hook herself up to the harness and disappear up into the ceiling once more. Frustrated, he plopped down into his chair and dug half-heartedly into his meal.  
  
Morpheus called a meeting in the main cabin shortly after Neo had eaten, and when they were all assembled, he tucked his hands inside his threadbare shirt and began to speak.  
  
"As you all know, we've... had to be very vigilant as of late. The past...incidents upon this ship have led to the loss of some very beloved and very essential members of our crew."  
  
"However, as you know, we have been shorthanded three crew members for some weeks. Thankfully, Neo is back with us, but the repairs on this ship will take far too much time and effort to complete in a reasonable amount of time, with the lack of a full crew.  
  
"We are going to Zion," Morpheus finished. "We have not been there in some time, and I feel that Zion's resources are needed to complete the work on this ship. There we can make use of real mechanics, replenish our food supply... and bury our dead."  
  
Tank's eyes flicked upward, then dropped, as he obviously thought of Dozer. But Neo noticed a subtle transformation in the room when Morpheus spoke of Zion. Heads were raised, light entered into eyes; Trinity even offered him a slight smile. Even Morpheus' voice sounded less morose. "Neo," he said. Neo looked up. "You will see Zion."  
  
Neo nodded, unsure of what to say, but for some reason the statement filled him with excitement. He was going to see the real world now, as it was supposed to be- the last human city.  
  
Morpheous turned from him and began speaking once more. "Tank received a very interesting transmission this morning," he said. He glanced over at Tank.  
  
"Yep," the younger man replied. "It was a message from Creon. He's the captain of another ship much like ours- and a close friend to Morpheus," he added for Neo's benefit.  
  
"He picked up our signal two days ago, which usually means he's pretty close to us. "Morpheus told Creon of our recent...troubles, and he's sending us a temporary crew member. She's skilled in programming and mechanics, and will be with us until we get to Zion, where Creon has an assignment for her."  
  
Morpheus nodded in assertion. "To our advantage, this young woman has been a part of this crew before. Trinity, do you remember the hacker Vixen, by any chance?"  
  
At the mention of that name, Trinity's head snapped up, and her eyes widened. "No," she breathed. "Vix's coming back?"  
  
Morpheus' features melted into a smile, and so did Tank's. "Yup," Tank said, his grin back in full force. "Creon said she couldn't wait to get here."  
  
Seeing the confusion on Neo's face, Trinity turned to speak to him, her eyes meeting his frankly for the first time that day. "Vixen is.....was Switch's twin sister. We were all recruited about the same time. We were all very close...of course we were all much younger then, still teenagers, like Mouse..." her eyes grew distant as she obviously lost herself in memories. Neo looked at her face, astounded. That was the longest speech he'd ever heard her make.  
  
Quickly, she shook her head to clear it. "She was transferred because..."  
  
"She wasn't serious," Morpheus said flatly, the smile gone. "Very immature. Also, she was having an affair with one of my crewmembers. Nothing is wrong with that, but when it interferes with your work, and makes you favor one crewmember over the other while inside the Matrix..." he shook his head.  
  
"She was only trying to protect him, Morpheus," Trinity said softly to the captain. "She was very young."  
  
"Trinity, you almost died because of her negligence. And all because of an affair. With Cypher!" Morpheus rested one fist against the cold steel pillar in the center of the cabin, brow furrowed. "Creon has assured me she has improved. I certainly hope so."  
  
Trinity moved closer to him. "I didn't die, Morpheus. We didn't know then that Cypher would go rouge. And she is much older, as the rest of us are. You'll see."  
  
Neo cleared his throat, not understanding this conversation, which was becoming increasingly private- and more emotional with each word. "Cypher? Affair? Trinity nearly killed?"  
  
Startled, they both looked up at him, and Morpheus cleared his throat as well, shooting Trinity a warning look.  
  
"You may all go back to your posts. Creon won't arrive till late today or tomorrow." He turned and was gone.  
  
Like? Dislike? Please review- flames are welcome; they amuse me, but constructive critisiscm is greatly appreciated. Thanks. 


	2. Vixen's arrival

Disclaimer: I own nothing here.  
  
Rating: PG-13.  
  
Early morning- or what felt like early morning, anyway- dawned quietly on the Neb, as it always did. Neo was still unused to the vague yet palpable feeling of timelessness that pervaded the ship. Everything moved slowly, methodically, precisely. Neo was sitting alongside Tank, watching the falling code, slightly mesmerized by the bright green digits.  
  
Suddenly Tank started forward, leaning on the edge of his chair. "What?" Neo asked, low. "Sssh," Tank hissed, his forehead creasing as he began to type. Neo leaned back, rebuffed but still curious.  
  
"Call Morpheus for me." Tank's voice, although unworried, was urgent. Neo leaped to his feet and hurried to find Morpheus. The older man came quickly. "We've received an incoming transmission from another ship," Tank said as soon as they arrived. "All we need is your authorization number for host reception."  
  
Tank vacated his chair and stood beside Neo, offering a quick explanation. "That's probably Creon," he said. "Morpheus has to enter his special captain's code in order to open the ship and allow anyone in. we also have to erect a canopy." Before he could elaborate for Neo's benefit, Morpheus called out sharply. "Tank, I need you!"  
  
Tank was over in a flash, and Trinity, appearing seemingly out nowhere, came up behind Neo, her lips close to his neck. "Look at that panel," she said quietly, so as not to startle him, indicating a wall close to Tank's area. "It's actually a door." As she spoke, Tank had been typing, and to his surprise, the panel slid open without the least resistance. Trinity leaned in closer, her breath stroking his skin in light, feathery patterns. "If you look closer," she whispered, so not as to disturb Morpheus, who was concentrating on the erecting of a large glass dome outside the panel- "you can see the other ship approaching."  
  
Curious, Neo leaned in, and although he could make out the vague shape of the side of a ship much like theirs, which was hovering in the air, totally silent- he was far more interested in the feel on Trinity's body, now pressed lightly against his back. Not wanting to end the contact, he licked his lips and managed to form another question. "Why the dome? Is the air out there bad?"  
  
"Not quite," he heard the amusement in her voice. "I mean, the air isn't worse than it is in any old sewer in the Matrix. It's actually a full-body scanner- anyone leaving or entering must be scanned for bugs, viruses, anything of the sort."  
  
Two figures, vague in the blurry glass, moved into the dome. "That should be Creon and Vixen," Trinity, said, low. A bright light, making a violent slash of red in the glass, illuminated two figures- one tall and slender, on short and wiry- and as quickly as it had flashed, disappeared. "They're clean, and the i.d's match," Tank said, still typing.  
  
Morpheus nodded. "Open the dome."  
  
Tank obeyed, and the two figures slowly made their way through the now open panel, blinking rapidly at the light, an aftereffect of the blinding laser scan. There was a young woman that had to be Switch's sister, Vixen- and a tall man accompanying her.  
  
She broke the silence of the ship with a low laugh and quick words of greeting, throwing her arms around Trinity's neck. "My people!" she cried, laughing, as she squeezed Trinity tightly and blew elfin kisses to Tank and Morpheus. Tank stepped forward and lifted her clean off the ground in a hug, while Morpheus received her playful attentions with a slightly amused smile as he strode forward to embrace Creon.  
  
Feeling shy, Neo hung back, all the while studying their visitors carefully. Creon, unlike Morpheus, was tall and slender; his build much like Neo's, although he looked to be a few years older. His skin was pale, and he had thick, black hair, its length testifying to the many years he'd been unplugged. Full, straight, and descending from a dramatic widow's peak, it touched his shoulders, the coal-black color the same shade as his almond-shaped eyes.  
  
Vixen, who Neo anticipated to be a carbon copy of Switch, looked nothing like he expected. Unlike Switch, who although icy and aloof was stunning, with her tall elegance, Vixen reminded Neo somewhat of a pixie. She was short, not over five feet even, to be certain- and wiry, with thick, corded muscles visible even underneath her loose garments.  
  
Her skin was incredibly pale, and set off a pair of huge, meltingly brown eyes flecked with amber, framed by pale lashes. She was also slightly bowlegged, as a cowboy is, and therefore walked with a slight swing to her hips. Her only resemblance to Switch was that of her high, pointed cheekbones, which looked too pronounced in her small, angular face, and her short, spiky white-blond hair. She wasn't beautiful, not at all- but she was striking, so striking that it was impossible to take one's eyes off her.  
  
"Hello," she greeted him cheerfully.  
  
"You must be Neo." Neo's thoughts were interrupted when he looked up and saw Creon smiling at him. "I have heard much about you."  
  
"Yes, that's me."  
  
Creon looked him over, slowly, with a practiced eye. "There is something in him...in his expression...that there was not in the others," he said to Morpheus, who nodded as if he'd been expecting such a comment. "Good luck to you, Neo."  
  
Neo, feeling slightly uncomfortable, returned the nod.  
  
"Morpheus," Vixen said, breaking the silence with a smile, "Where's Cypher? And my big sis? And Tank, where's Dozer? They're not in Zion now, are they?"  
  
Morpheus shot Creon a look, and he shook his head slightly. "I haven't told her," he said.  
  
"Told me what?"  
  
The entire crew glanced at each other, suddenly sober.  
  
Trinity emerged from the Neb's east room, looking fatigued. Her eyes were lined with gray, smudged underneath. She looked like....like death. Neo was waiting at the door.  
  
"Is she okay?" he whispered.  
  
Trinity looked up at him, all former shyness driven away by her concern for her friend. "She's very bad," Trinity said, keeping her voice low.  
  
When Vixen had heard of her sister's death, and of Cypher's betrayal, she'd gone nearly hysterical- Tank had to administer a sedative, though it had little effect. For the past seventeen hours, she'd remained in the room where the bodies were laid in state, Tank and Trinity taking turns staying with her. Now, Trinity was in the hall, unsteady on her feet. Neo took her arm, and to his surprise, she leaned on him heavily.  
  
"Tank....has to stay with her," she whispered. "Find Tank..."  
  
Neo took Trinity, whose eyes were closing, into his arms, carrying her into her room, laying her down on her cot. "Neo, "she mumbled. "It's my shift....."  
  
"Don't worry about it. I'll explain to Morpheus."  
  
"Find Tank..."  
  
With that admonition, Trinity drifted off, extreme exhaustion etched on her face. Neo ran his fingers lightly over her pale, cool forehead, feeling a wave of tenderness wash over him at the sight of her sleeping. Trinity had had almost no rest since his return to the Neb, in between watching over him as he recovered, taking on extra shifts to cover for the missing crew members, and now, comforting Vixen. He traced her lips lightly with his fingers, wanting to kiss her, but afraid he'd wake her up. He finally pulled her blanket up, and vacated the room.  
  
Neo hurried to the helm of the ship, looking for Tank, but saw Morpheus instead, watching the falling code. "Where's Tank?"  
  
"I sent him to sleep," Morpheus didn't even turn around. "He dozed against the keyboard and nearly deleted a year's worth of data. Where's Vixen?"  
  
"Still in the east room."  
  
"You must go to her."  
  
"Me?"  
  
"Go. Now."  
  
Neo hesitantly took a few steps forward, then stopped. Morpheus sighed. "Neo, as a part of my crew, you must be willing to undertake any and all responsibilities shared by the crew. It's vital to our survival."  
  
Neo nodded, then pushed open the door to the temporary mourge.  
  
What he saw made him suck in his breath.  
  
The room was completely empty, save for a metal picnic-style bench and five long, vaccum-sealed glass boxes, a carefully wrapped body in each of them. Vixen was sitting on the bench, her head against one of the boxes, her face hidden.  
  
Neo made his way inside quietly, sure not to make any noise. He paused in front of the first box, not wanting to look in, but feeling drawn to it anyway, a morbid fascination taking over. He bent over and looked- straight into Dozer's glassy, vacant eyes.  
  
"Oh, God," he breathed, stifling a gasp. His former crewmate lay as if sleeping, the only indication of his death being his skin, which was gray and ashy as if all color had been sucked from it. He looked around tentatively in time to see Cypher, Mouse, Switch, and Apoc- all pale, cold, laid out in state. He jumped when he felt a small hand rest on his shoulder. He turned.  
  
Vixen was standing there, eyes streaming, nose running, her face rimmed with red. She had obviously been crying for a long time, and Neo automatically reached out to her, without even knowing where the impulse came from. She gladly came to him and nestled deep in his arms, fitting there easily, as a little girl might. Neo himself felt strangely comforted due to his ministrations to her, and they sat in silence for nearly an hour, rocking back and forth.  
  
"He wasn't all bad, you know," Vixen said in a tiny voice.  
  
"Hmm?" Neo was startled out of the dreamlike state they'd been in all that time.  
  
"He wasn't!" Vixen pushed away from the warmth of his chest and looked up at him, eyes intense. "Cypher, I mean."  
  
Neo opened his mouth to speak, but she barreled on. "He was mean, sometimes. And he was sarcastic. But he loved me. There was a good side to him, Neo."  
  
Neo didn't know what to say, and was surprised when Vix shoved a piece of crumpled paper in his hand. He looked at it, smoothing it out- it was apparently an old photograph of the crew of the Neb.  
  
It included a much younger-looking Mouse, a skinny, solemn Trinity, a clean- shaven Cypher, a goofily-grinning Tank and Dozer, and Morpheus, who looked exactly the same, save for some fine lines missing from his face. Vixen was leaning casually against Cypher's chest, grinning as well.  
  
"His mind couldn't handle it," said Vixen, softly, breaking into his thoughts. "It couldn't handle the concept of the real world. I knew. He would tell me things, late in the day, when we were in bed together... I tried to warn Morpheus, tried to have Cypher sent to Zion, where he could be watched, but...Morpheus thought I was favoring him, and thought that Cypher's reluctance to accept the Matrix was a sign of weakness. He then had me transferred, to protect us from 'emotional attachment,' as he called it."  
  
"So you feel that Morpheus is responsible for Cypher's....betrayal."  
  
"Oh, no!" Her eyes grew wide. "I would never blame him for that. I just thought...that maybe if they had sent him to Zion....he might have not ended this way."  
  
She leaned forward on her haunches, her eyes glowing. "Neo," she said, softly. "You are the One. I realize that you idealize Morpheus...as we all do," she added in a softer tone, looking away. "Still...he is not the perfect leader, however he may seem to you now. Remember you're the One, and trust your instincts."  
  
Neo stared at her, confused. "What do you mean, trust-"  
  
But Vixen had risen from her seat, trying to rake her hair back into something resembling a civilized woman. She brought her fingers to her face and pulled them away, wet with her tears. "I must look a sight," she said, lightly, signaling the end of their conversation.  
  
Neo rose and wordlessly pulled a piece of cloth from the bottom of his shirt, the worn fibers ripping easily. Vixen gratefully took it form him and mopped her face and nose with it, tossing is into a container for medical waste that stood in the room.  
  
"Shall we go?" she fixed a smile on her face and looked in his direction. He nodded, and the two headed for the main console of the Neb. Vixen paused at the door, looking him over. "You've been a great comfort," she said softly. "Thank you."  
  
Then she smiled. "You know, Trinity does love you a lot," she said, her face dimpling impishly. "Keep working on her- trust me." She disappeared through the doorway, leaving him standing there with an open mouth.  
  
Will update soon, unless the release of the second movie has spoiled the story for you. This follows a completely different storyline, though. Review please!! 


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